Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be,
appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the Circuit
Courts of the United States, and Who, in consequence of such appointment, are
authorized to exercise the powers that any justice of the peace, or other
magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect to offenders
for any crime or offense against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning,
or bailing….
And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each
organized Territory of the
And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United States shall from
time to time enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a view to afford
reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, …
And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have concurrent
jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the United
States, in their respective circuits and districts within the several States,
and the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories, severally and
collectively…; shall grant certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory
proof being made, with authority to take and remove such fugitives from service
or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory
from which such persons may have escaped or fled.
And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy
marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued … and should any marshal or deputy marshal
refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all
proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be
fined in the sum of one thousand dollars,…
and after arrest of such fugitive, by such marshal or his deputy, or
whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such
fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his
deputy, such marshal shall be liable, … to be prosecuted for the benefit of
such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive…:
and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to
execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the
requirements of the Constitution
of the United States and of this act, they are hereby authorized and
empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under
their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute
all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful
performance of their respective duties; …to execute process as aforesaid, to
summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus
of the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the
clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of
this act; and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the
prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be
required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be
executed by said officers, any where in the State within which they are issued.
And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in any State
or Territory of the United States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into
another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom
such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly
authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under
the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the
same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by
procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners
aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of
such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive,
where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such
person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose
duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary
manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in
writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by
other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court,
magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to
administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or
Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with
a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid, with the
seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be
sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by
affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to
be due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or
labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory
from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person
escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or
attorney, a certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service
or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from
the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such
claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and
restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and
remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may
have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the
testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the
certificates in this and the first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be
conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to
remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall
prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any
court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever.
And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly
obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any
person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a
fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid, or
shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from
the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or
persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the
authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person
so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from
such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally
authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to
prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of
the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid,
shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and
conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in
which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of
criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories
of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil
damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand
dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of
debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose
jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.
And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the
said District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their services, the
like fees as may be allowed for similar services in other cases; and where such
services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and delivery of the
fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or where such supposed
fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof as
aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in whole by such claimant, his or her
agent or attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings are before a
commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his
services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the
claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the
proof shall not, in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate
and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and
examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent or
attorney. The person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued
by such commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or
labor as aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for
each person he or they may arrest, and take before any commissioner as
aforesaid, at the instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees
as may be deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional
services as may be necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending at
the examination, keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him with food
and lodging during his detention, and until the final determination of such
commissioners; and, in general, for performing such other duties as may be
required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent, or commissioner in the
premises, such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged
by the officers of the courts of justice within the proper district or county,
as near as may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or
attorneys, whether such supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to
be delivered to such claimant by the final determination of such commissioner
or not.
And be it further enacted, That, upon affidavit made by the claimant of such
fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that
he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will he rescued by force from his
or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in
which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest
to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence
he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent, or attorney. And
to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ
so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain
them in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and
his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be
allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for transportation of
criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within which the arrest
is made, and paid out of the treasury of the
And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or labor in any
State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be
due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record
therein,… and make satisfactory proof to such court, or judge in vacation, of
the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to
such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters
so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such
convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated
by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being
produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person so
escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other
office, authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping
from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and
taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the
service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record
mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further
evidence if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is
contained in the said record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she
shall be delivered up to the claimant, And the said court, commissioner, judge,
or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants or
fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences
aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such
person identified and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which
certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such
person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing
herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a transcript
of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be
heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs, competent in law.
Approved,
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